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The utilization of digital technologies is rapidly increasing businesses’ capacities for innovation and growth, especially in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with strong benefits in efficiency, competitiveness, and market reach. We aimed to study the impact of digital technologies on cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) in Italian SMEs, with regard to three main ICT areas: e-business, e-marketing, and e-commerce. Using a regression analysis, the study found that e-business tools have an unclear impact on cross-border e-commerce, while e-marketing tools, such as data tracking for medium-sized enterprises and social media for all SMEs, have a positive and significant impact on the online export performance. Finally, we examined the impact of being present on a marketplace rather than having a proprietary e-commerce website, and we found that having a presence on marketplaces such as Amazon or Alibaba is more effective than having a proprietary e-commerce website in terms of cross-border online sales. These results are useful both for policy makers and managers, since making informed decisions to develop SMEs is crucial for industrial strategy effectiveness.
Dallocchio et al. (Sat,) studied this question.